1. Technical Field
This invention relates to wireless communication terminals for use in vehicular mounted environments; and, more particularly, it relates to wireless communication used in vehicles which implement voice recognition and head-up display technology to provide hands-off interfacing with a driver.
2. Related Art
The use of radio transceiving devices in trucks or other automobiles is well known. Such devices typically support voice communication only, but others also or alternately enable the driver to receive textual messages. Similarly, in either implementation, the driver typically receives feedback from conventional transceiving devices in a textual form.
To display textual messages received and/or textual feedback (hereinafter "textual information"), most conventional transceiving devices employ LCD (liquid crystal display) screens. Although they could be made larger, the screens are typically as small as possible to conform to the small footprint otherwise desired for the transceiving devices. Because of the limited screen size, drivers often find the screen very difficult to read, especially in bright day-light conditions. With the small screens, the textual information displayed tends to be rather cryptic and abbreviated, adding to the reading difficulty,
Compounding the problem, most conventional transceiving devices in vehicular applications are mounted out of a driver's normal field of view. Thus, to interface with such a device, drivers must look away from the road, creating a dangerous situation. Furthermore, if a driver needs to interact with such a device to enter data or commands, the driver not only looks away from the road, but also has to remove his hand or hands from the steering wheel to interact with some manual input means. Again, this creates a very hazardous situation.
In addition, when the image on the terminal's screen changes and needs to be read, it is often very difficult to gain the attention of the driver. The changes alone to the image on the screen typically does not attract a driver's attention. Beeping or buzzing sounds to gain the driver's attention may be employed but are often masked by road noise.
Hence, it would be highly desirable to solve the foregoing variety problems encountered in the use of vehicular-mounted transceiving devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular-mounted computing device or terminal which allows drivers to interface therewith without requiring visual or manual attention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular-mounted computing device or terminal which brings information to a driver's attention in a non-invasive, non-hazardous manner.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention and claims with reference to the accompanying drawings.